Man City move three points clear at the top

Manchester City maintained their 100 per cent start to the season, taking advantage of Arsenal's 3-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday to open up a three-point gap at the top of the table.

Enzo Maresca’s side opened the scoring through summer signing Enzo Fernandez, but in a crazy first half, Brian Brobbey equalised twice, with the Dutchman’s 33-minute brace the earliest a Sunderland player has scored twice in a Premier League match since Darren Bent in 2010.

And to cap a thrilling first half, City went ahead for the third time as the Black Cats failed to clear their ranks following a Cherki cross. The ball fell kindly to Antoine Semenyo, who scored his first league goal of the season. It marked the first time City have taken the lead three times in the first half of a Premier League match.

Semenyo claimed his second and City’s fourth goal 10 minutes after the break, only for Brobbey to reply again, becoming the first Sunderland player to score a Premier League hat-trick since Jermain Defoe in 2016. It’s now the sixth time a player has scored a hat-trick but ended up on the losing side in Premier League history, and the first since Roque Santa Cruz for Blackburn Rovers against Wigan Athletic in December 2007.

Erling Haaland added City’s fifth in the final knockings, a goal that means the Norwegian has scored against every Premier League team he has faced as City claimed a 5-3 win.

Sunderland, though, will feel aggrieved they didn’t claim a result having generated more Expected Goals (xG) with 4.32, than City 2.72 xG as Maresca’s side failed to keep a third successive clean sheet.

“There were too many goals. I prefer 1-0, it’s much better!” Maresca told Sky Sports after Sunday’s win.

“I’m happy with today’s performance because we found a way to win, but hopefully next time, we won’t concede three.”

Iraola claims victory with Liverpool on Bournemouth return

On the south coast, Andoni Iraola enjoyed a winning return to AFC Bournemouth. The Basque swapped Vitality Stadium for Anfield over the summer, and oversaw his second league win as Liverpool boss on Sunday.

Alexander Isak’s second-half strike was enough to secure all the spoils as the Reds maintained their unbeaten start to the domestic campaign with a 1-0 win. It was the Swede’s fourth of the season, and he’s now second to Haaland in the Coca-Cola Golden Boot race.

Liverpool took a while to get going at Bournemouth, which Iraola highlighted after the victory. “I’m obviously happy with the result. I know it’s a difficult place to come, very difficult place to get three points," he told Sky Sports.

“We could see in the game, at the beginning in the first 20 minutes, we weren’t at the level at the game, and it has cost us until afterwards, where we finished the first half better. The second half we played better.”

Cunha's late goal denies Arbeloa first win

Matheus Cunha's late deflected strike salvaged a point for Manchester United and denied Alvaro Arbeloa a first win as Fulham boss.

A first half that yielded 26 shots, the most in the first half of a Premier League match this season, surprisingly ended goalless.

Fulham opened the scoring midway through the second half. Man Utd goalkeeper Senne Lammens saved defender Calvin Bassey’s initial effort but the rebound ricocheted off Lisandro Martinez and trickled over the line to hand Arbeloa’s side the lead.

The goal spurred United on, and Cunha's 89th-minute effort deflected off David Affengruber and past Bernd Leno to level the scores.

While United avoided defeat, it marks a disappointing start to 2026/27 for head coach Michael Carrick. Last season, United claimed more points (39) than any other Premier League team after he took charge at Old Trafford back in mid-January.

However, five points from the opening five matches marks United’s joint-lowest tally in a Premier League season, matching the 2014/15 points return. To their credit, United recovered to finish fourth that campaign. Fans will hope for a repeat this time around.

“I thought we should've won the game, we created enough to win the game. We had a lot of good play and the goal we did concede, it is one of those goals," Carrick said.

“I really liked the reaction and how we finished the game. It would be easy for it to go in another direction. We nearly won it at the end. We came to get the win; of course we did, but the way we finished the game is the positive we take from it.

“Their goalkeeper, the saves he has made, he was Player of the Match and we hit the post twice. A lot of it [our play] was good.”

Leeds hold Palace to stay unbeaten

Finally, Leeds United extended their unbeaten start to the season with a goalless draw against Crystal Palace.

Tyrick Mitchell did have the ball in the back of the Leeds net shortly after the break, but the goal was ruled out due to an offside in the build-up.

While Palace will have been disappointed to have failed to claim all three points, the Eagles have now picked up four points from their last two away games under head coach Pierre Sage.

“It's a good point to make a clean sheet,” Sage told the official Crystal Palace website. “But it would be a better point if we won this game because I think we created some chances too.

“That's why we have to analyse this clean sheet, not only in the way to defend, but in the way to attack. We created some chances without scoring, and I think altogether it's a good point. (Credit: premierleague.com)